A lawyer whose legal attacks against his former wives formed the foundation of baseless "bribery" allegations against Gov. Katie Hobbs and other politicians faces sentencing next month for violating court orders related to his divorce.
Licensed to practice in Arizona and California, John Thaler has defied the law for two years, suing and filing false liens against perceived enemies and avoiding capture on warrants for ignoring court orders. Still, he maintains the backing of some on the far-right in Arizona.
His fanciful allegations, which were aired by his girlfriend at a public hearing in February, targeted specific elected officials, judges, Mesa's City Council and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as bribe-takers in an elaborate Mexican drug cartel scheme overseen by two women. Not just any two women — it was later revealed they were his ex-wife and former mother-in-law.
And it wasn't the first ex-wife he targeted with such allegations.
Both Republican and Democratic lawmakers were outraged over the testimony, which was supposed to focus on election security. Blame fell on former Republican Rep. Liz Harris of Chandler, who had invited Thaler's girlfriend to speak at the hearing.
In April, lawmakers expelled Harris from the Legislature for lying about and trying to cover up what she knew of the testimony beforehand. The FBI and Maricopa County Sheriff's Office later determined the underlying information behind Thaler's claims, which stem from Thaler's...
The Deb star Charlotte MacInnes claims Wilson’s social media posts suggested she had dishonestly retracted the complaint in return for a lead stage role and record deal Get our breaking news ema...